A field trip to KM4Dev in April–May 2011

As part of a series of visits by CPsquare and SCoPE members to distributed communities, the authors visited with members of KM4Dev in April 2011. They learned about the history of the community, about the environment in which its members work, and some of what the community means to some of the people who participated in the visit. They looked at various KM4Dev websites and held asynchronous discussions about the community. A synchronous teleconference answered many questions and raised many more. The challenges that KM4Dev is currently facing include recent growth in its main email membership, a proliferation of venues and tools (including face-to-face meetings), increasing member diversity, and an evolving environment where knowledge sharing and management ideas are entering the mainstream. These challenges raise questions about sub-communities and community support and leadership.